The present invention relates generally to surgical appliances and supplies and, more specifically, to a garment worn by women who have undergone breast surgeries.
Each year, thousands of women undergo breast surgery. Of all the surgeries that a woman may experience, breast surgery, and particularly mastectomy or removal of a breast or breasts, is the most traumatic. A mastectomy is the most common surgical procedure performed when a malignant tumor is found. The type of surgery depends upon the staging of the tumor and the client""s preferences. Although many women look for more conservative treatment and less destructive surgery than removal of the breast, mastectomy continues to be the preferred course of treatment to increase the likelihood of destroying the breast cancer. Mastectomy procedures include modified radical mastectomy (removal of the underlying muscle as well as the breast), simple mastectomy (removal of one breast), bilateral mastectomy (removal of both breasts) and lumpectomy (removal of a portion of the breast).
When the cancer involves the muscle or interpectoral node, substantially more muscle and tissue must be removed. Removal of auxiliary nodes and lymphatic channels predisposes the client to infection and lymphatic obstruction. Edema, an abnormal excess accumulation of serious fluid in connective tissue, is a frequent occurrence in breast surgeries unless positive steps are taken to prevent it. The body develops a collateral lymphatic drainage system usually within 3 to 4 weeks postoperatively. In the interim, lymphatic fluid production must be drained to prevent infection and promote healing.
Post operative drainage tubes are placed in the body to aid in lymphatic fluid drainage. Drainage tube systems are used not only for mastectomies but also for breast reconstructive surgery as well as for less radical surgeries for breast enlargement or breast reduction. The drainage tube system conventionally consists of one to two flexible tubes which exit the chest wall on one or both sides of the body in the area of the incision wound. The drainage tubes extend outside the body and a collection bulb or cup is installed on the end of the drainage tube to collect lymphatic fluids and tissue debris. The drainage tubes and collection bulbs are conventionally gathered together and pinned to the front of the patient""s gown with a safety pin. The collection bulb must be emptied of lymphatic discharge on a regular basis, approximately every hour to promote free flow of discharge. The entire drainage system must be supported to prevent pain and inflammation resulting from the disruption and separation of the tubes from the chest wall.
Although the physical changes resulting from mastectomy and other breast surgeries require weeks or even months of recovery time, the psychological changes are even more difficult and require a much longer recovery time to overcome. In the time period immediately following surgery, a woman must overcome not only pain, limited mobility in the arms, and an extensive drainage system, but also a feeling of flatness and imbalance resulting from the loss of the weight of the breast. These physical changes often delay the beginning of psychological healing that is essential to recovery of total well-being in the patient. Doctors recommend that a mastectomy patient begin to wear a prosthesis as soon as possible to being this healing process. The sooner a woman can don a prosthesis and provide the body with a feeling of balance and wholeness, the sooner she will come to terms with the traumatic change in her body and the greater the chances of regaining mental well being.
The change in the physical appearance of the patient requires visual and uncomplicated relief as soon as possible. At times a patient will require a more customized fitting to achieve her pre-surgery appearance. The present invention allows the patient to achieve a womanly appearance in the interim until she is sufficiently recovered to face the search for a fitted bra, prosthesis and fitter to meet her needs.
It will be recognized that although there are a number of medically supported articles that are conventionally known and medically employed for post-operative recovery of surgeries in and around the breast area, none of the articles offer solutions for prosthetic applications which accommodate the fluid drainage systems used routinely in surgical practice for removal of fluids after breast surgery. To the contrary, conventionally known articles either address incision wounds to the chest wall in general or provide prosthetic support. Such articles do not provide a breast surgery patient with the ability to don a prosthetic brassiere which accommodates drainage systems in the days following her surgery.
Articles which generally accommodate chest wall surgeries include compression dressings and cardio-thoracic brassieres. One such article may be found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,593 to Matory, a post surgical drainage accommodating, compression dressing and garment to be worn by a man or a woman after chest wall surgery to cover and compress at least one surgical incision site on the upper torso. The patent to Matory does not support prosthetic applications. Further, compression dressings can exacerbate breast surgery recovery because no allowance is made to accommodate shifting caused by differential heights between the remaining breast and the area where the breast was removed. Another example of an article designed to accommodate chest wall surgery maybe found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,351 to Raml et al., a surgical brassiere for use by female patients following cardio-thoracic surgery which provides a ventilated panel over the mid sternal incisional line. The referenced design to Raml et al. does not provide for prosthesis use.
On the other hand, conventionally known mastectomy brassieres are directed primarily toward prosthesis use but may only be comfortably used several weeks after surgery when post-operative fluid drains are removed. Merely representative of such prior art articles are the following: a garment for use after breast surgery with enlarged arm openings and an elongated bodice portion to fit over the wearer""s torso and assist in holding the garment in place as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,855 to Paulus et al.; a brassiere for supporting prosthesis that is cut low under the woman""s arms to avoid sensitive surgical incisions that provides pockets to receive prosthesis as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,792 to Miller; and a reversible mastectomy brassiere which positions a prosthesis on the left breast of a mastectomy patient or alternatively on the right breast of the patient as described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,326 to Williams. The waist bands, side panels and elongated bodices of such articles make no accommodation for post-operative drains exiting the chest wall and often result in pain if used too soon after surgery.
Such prior art designs do not firmly hold the prosthesis in place. An example of one such design is the ""792 patent to Miler. When a woman bends over, the prosthesis can readily fall out due to open top construction of the prosthetic support cup.
Further, the use of such articles can result in the disruption and separation of the drainage tubing from the chest wall. Because conventionally known prosthetic brassieres cannot be properly fitted around the drainage tubes, the brassiere often shifts out of place. At a time when the patient""s psychological needs demand that the brassiere to fit as naturally as possible, drain tubes prevent proper use of the prosthesis. Drainage tubes typically remain in place for at least one month ???? after surgery. However, psychological healing should begin well before this time.
An additional burden during the initial weeks of recovery is the placement and storage of collection bulbs. The bulbs must be regularly emptied of fluid. For breast reconstruction surgery in particular, the patient must handle up to four collection bulbs. A convenient, unobtrusive method of accommodating fluid collection bulbs for a woman wearing a prosthetic brassiere is not available in the prior art.
These prior art designs illustrate the range and variety of garments and articles that do not address the need for a mastectomy patient to wear a prosthesis brassiere that accommodates lymphatic fluid drainage systems immediately after surgery. In addition, the cited art does not include a reliable, drain accommodating means of providing a readily available, prosthesis-securing brassiere that a patient can wear within hours of surgery.
Accordingly, it will be recognized that there is a need for a prosthetic brassiere which may be worn by a female patient immediately after breast surgery generally or after surgery to remove a breast specifically, which will accommodate multiple surgical drains in a manner which will avoid disruption of the drains from the chest wall. In addition, if such a garment were also able to provide a storage facility for collection bulbs and further ensure secure placement of the prosthesis so as to enable the patient to assume her pre-surgery appearance quickly, such a garment would be recognized by the medical community as a major advance in this art. It is, therefore, to the provision of such an improvement that the present invention is directed.
Briefly described, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages by providing a surgery recovery brassiere which (1) can be worn immediately after surgery, (2) accommodates a plurality of drainage tubes by minimizing the amount of tubing outside the garment, (3) stores fluid collection bulbs in a convenient location under the breasts, (4) provides front and back closures to meet the varying needs of the patient, and (5) securely holds readily available prosthesis in place. Generally, the present invention, in the preferred embodiment, comprises front panels, prosthesis panels, rear panels, torso band, straps, drain tube apertures and fluid collection storage pouch.
More specifically, two front panels each comprise a cup portion and a conforming portion. The prosthesis panels are attached to the rear facing of the cup portion of the front panel to form enclosed pockets to hold one or two prosthesis. Each of the two rear panels are joined at one end to the front panels and extend to meet the opposing rear panel at a back closure. The free end of each of the front panels meet to form a front closure. Straps extend from the top of the front panel to the top of the adjacent rear panel. The torso band extends around the lower edge of the surgery recovery brassiere to form an almost continuous strip of material along the lower edge of the front and rear panels.
The surgery recovery brassiere further accommodates post-operative surgical drainage systems composed of one or more drain tubes and associated fluid collection bulbs. The position of drainage tube apertures, generally located proximate to the joint between the front and rear panels, allow drainage tubes to protrude from the chest wall, through the apertures and into the fluid collection storage pouch. Tab closures allow the wearer to secure the drainage tubes within the aperture to further reduce movement of the tubes and disturbance of the drainage system. The storage pouch provides divided pockets with elastic top entry so that collection bulbs are within easy, convenient reach for emptying lymphatic fluids and other waste materials.
In accordance with the present invention, the front panels, rear panels, prosthetic panels, straps and torso band are sewn together to form a unitary or one-piece structure. The upper edge of the storage pouch releasably attaches to the torso band with VELCRO, a hook-and-loop fastener system. The storage pouch, like the torso band, forms a continuous band of material around the torso. The pouch has a front closure means, preferably with VELCRO.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is to provide a new and improved surgery recovery brassiere which can be worn acutely after surgery to begin psychological healing and provide physical balance to the body.
Another feature and advantage of the present invention is to provide a new and improved surgery recovery brassiere which accommodates drainage tubing and minimizes binding or disruption of the surgical drainage system.
A further feature and advantage of the present invention is to provide a new and improved surgery recovery brassiere that allows fluid collection devices to be conveniently stored in as inconspicuous, least obtrusive location as possible, further minimizing the opportunity to disrupt the surgical drainage system.
Yet another feature and advantage of the present invention is to provide a new and improved surgery recovery brassiere that secures a prosthesis or multiple prosthesis in correct position in relation to the body so as to prevent shifting of the prosthesis when the wearer bends or leans over.
A still further feature and advantage of the present invention is to provide a new and improved surgery recovery brassiere that provides economical value in eliminating the need for prosthetic garments after drainage system is removed; the surgery recovery brassiere can be worn acutely after surgery as well as long term for continuing prosthetic support.
An additional feature and advantage of the present invention is to provide a new and improved surgery recovery brassiere that can be used for one prosthesis if only breast has been removed or for two prosthesis if bilateral mastectomy has been performed.
Another feature and advantage of the present invention is to provide a new and improved surgery recovery brassiere that can be used for patients undergoing breast enlargement or breast reduction, both surgeries being procedures which demand immediate support of breast tissues but also utilize surgical drains for removal of lymphatic fluids.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent to one skilled in the art from the following description and claims when read in light of the accompanying drawings.